States Take Widely Varied Stands on Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants
by Gerri L. Elder
While immigration issues continue to take center stage across the country, states are now making decisions about where they stand on issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The arguments both for and against issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants are strong. While some feel that issuing driver's licenses to people not in the country legally takes the country a step further from enforcing existing immigration laws, others feel that licensed drivers are safer, and more accountable drivers.
In New York, the Bush administration and the state have worked out a plan to create a new breed of super-secure driver's licenses for U.S. citizens and also offer illegal immigrants a version of the new driver's licenses.
Arizona, Vermont and Washington have already agreed on the federally approved secure driver's licenses.
Arizona will not issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants because the new and improved 3-in-1 driver's license and identification would also prove U.S. citizenship. The new Arizona license will be used as a driver's license, as proof of citizenship and as a passport-like document valid for travel in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico
For states along the U.S. border, the issue is a more pressing one, as the borders are tightening up and new rules and regulations for crossing will soon be in effect.
About a month ago, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced a plan whereby an illegal immigrant with a valid foreign passport could obtain a driver's license in the state. The state's agreement with the Homeland Security Department will create a three-tier license system in New York. This agreement makes New York the largest state so far to get on board with the government's post-September 11 effort to make identification cards more secure.
An estimated 75 percent of New York residents are against the state's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Spitzer has said the deal means New York "will usher in the most secure licensing system in the nation."
Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary, said he was not happy that New York intended to issue ID cards to illegal immigrants, but added that there is nothing that he can do to prevent it.
Chertoff said, "I don't endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice."
While the governor of New York intends to go forward with the plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the state of Maine is taking an entirely different approach.
In Maine, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles has announced that from now on it will only print the state's driving manuals and testing materials in English, citing printing costs as the reason.
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap canceled a planned program that would have printed the study and testing materials from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in multiple languages. Dunlap said that since only 6 percent of Maine's population speaks a language other than English, printing the materials in French and Spanish is not a cost-effective option for the state.